Apparatuses for the treatment of plastics material containers have long been known from the prior art. An example of an apparatus of this type is blow moulding machines for shaping plastics material pre-forms to form plastics material containers. Other apparatus of this type are for example ovens (for example microwave ovens) for heating containers or conveying star wheels for the conveying of the plastics material containers. Apparatus of this type usually have at least one movable support on which devices for receiving the plastics material containers are arranged. As a rule, blow moulding machines have for example a plurality of movable blow moulds which in each case form a cavity inside which the plastics material pre-forms are capable of being shaped into containers and inside which pre-forms of plastics material (plastics material pre-forms) are expanded to form plastics material containers. Blow moulding machines of this type are usually rotating, substantially circular plants. In this case they receive plastics material pre-forms at a specified position, and during the rotation and the exceeding of a specified sector of the latter they form the plastics material containers which are removed in turn at a specified position.
Constantly greater demands with respect to the throughput and the quality of the containers produced or treated are placed upon blow moulding machines of this type and also, on the other hand, other apparatus for the treatment of plastics material containers. In particular, the hygiene and thus the sterility of the containers are required in the field of the filling of foodstuffs. As a result of the sterilization of the relatively small plastics material pre-forms and the subsequent sterile (aseptic) treatment of these plastics material preforms by way of the blow moulding process to form the desired container until the filling procedure, it is possible not only to accelerate the entire process but also to reduce the quantity of sterilization agent used, since it is necessary to sterilize only the surface of the pre-forms which are significantly smaller than the finished containers. In this way, not only can the quantity of sterilization agent be reduced, however, but the process can also be significantly simplified. It is thus possible for example, when using vaporized sterilization agent solutions (such as for example alcohols, chlorinated water, hypochlorous acid, ozone solution, hydrogen peroxide, peracetic acid and others), for excess sterilization agent to be easily removed again. The final residues of the sterilization agent also escape during the heating of the pre-forms for the blow moulding process at the latest, in which case of course the appropriate safety aspects in the case of peroxides have to be observed. A subsequent complicated cleaning and drying of the finished containers before the filling procedure is not necessary. In this way, despite the additional effort to ensure sterility during the entire production process, it is possible to increase the efficiency significantly.
It is important for a high degree of efficiency that only as small as possible a number of the apparatus for the treatment of containers should have the aseptic conditions. Since the maintenance of these sterile conditions is quite costly, it has been found to be advantageous to keep sterile only the region of the apparatus for the treatment of containers in which the sterile pre-forms or containers are present. An apparatus of this type is disclosed for example in WO 2010/020529 A2.
A blow moulding machine is disclosed in DE 10 2007 017 938 A1, which is situated completely in a sterile clean room (isolator room). In order to be able to maintain sterility even over a prolonged period in running operation, radiation sources which act upon the parts to be sterilized with radiation in order to kill germs, are arranged on the blowing wheel and along the conveying path of the pre-forms or containers respectively.
The use of gases or aerosols for the sterilization of clean rooms, however, affords some advantages as compared with a sterilization by means of radiation. In this way, in particular when sterilization gases are used, on account of their considerable diffusion capacity it is possible to penetrate even into areas which are inaccessible to radiation sources. By way of example, when UV lamps are used for sterilization, specific areas of the blowing station are exposed for longer to the light radiated by these lamps than are other areas. This is based inter alia on the shape of the individual blowing stations which cast a shadow into specific areas at least for a time. In these areas it is possible in some cases for germs to settle, multiply and lead to contamination.
It may therefore be desirable to make available an apparatus for the treatment of plastics material containers, wherein the apparatus has at least one movable support which is arranged in an isolator room to which a sterilization agent is capable of being supplied. The isolator room may comprise movable and immovable elements and the apparatus has devices for supplying a sterilization agent into the isolator room, which devices sterilize parts—movable relative to these devices in each case—inside the isolator room by acting upon them with a sterilization agent.